A Soccer Practice Game that Teaches Attacking
Letter From a Soccer Coach Describing How He Taught Attacking
His Team Went From 2 or 3 Soccer Shots to Over a Dozen

Hi SoccerHelp folks,

This is my first season as a soccer coach and I just wanted to send you guys
a big THANK YOU. I would have never made it without your site (I'm a
Premium subscriber and it was worth every penny.)

I also wanted to write you to tell you that one of the ABSOLUTE MOST
IMPORTANT games for U-10 and under is "3 Man Direct, Wing Attacking Game". This game should easily qualify for the "TRY THIS"
designation, if not the "DEFINITELY TRY THIS" designation.

My U10 girls soccer team had not won a game all season. We play 6 on a
side, and we have been using a 2-1-2 soccer formation, pushing the fullbacks
up to the center line when we could. Our girls were doing a great
job of keeping the ball in the other teams territory, but we were
getting hardly any shots on goal, and we'd often go scoreless.
Though we had a great defensive strategy, our goalies would usually flub a goal kick or two, and we'd end up on the losing end of these really low scoring games.

I had a lot of young girls this soccer season (many of them just turned 8
over the course of the season. They wanted to play U-10 to be with
their friends). I'm the junior coach. This past week I was the only coach. We had two practices. For both practices I worked basically two Premium Practice Games: Kick a Crossed Ball (from the left, right, and center) and the "3 Man Direct, Wing Attacking Game." We didn't scrimmage for a single second. During the attacking game I played goalie. I played the goal hard and kicked
rebounds out to the far post player as much as I could to illustrate
the value of covering that position, and I urged my girls to crash
the goal hard. I also varied it by removing the cones and playing
with a full soccer formation (basically 2 fullbacks and 3 forwards) I'd punt
it to one fullback or the other and urge the forwards to hustle back
and set the soccer formation up themselves. Then, they'd run that drill at
me hard and try to score on 1 touch shots from the center or rebounds.

Today I had an entirely different team! We went from averaging 2 or
3 shots on goal per game to more than a dozen today. My girls got a
number of fast break opportunities (something we NEVER had before
because my forwards didn't understand that they had to move to the
goal to score) and we won the game. I was SO HAPPY to end the season
with a win, and the smiles on those girls faces when they blew that
final whistle were priceless.

I'd really urge you to put one of those blue "definitely play this"
designations by the "3 Man Direct, Wing Attacking Game." Over one Rec season, I couldn't play all of the games, so I usually chose the
ones that were marked as the best ones. My girls dribbled across
squares, played the Dribble Around Cones & Pass Relay Race game, and passed through the cones into space, and each one of those drills helped each player get more skilled on their own. But when I was desperate to increase our
shots on goal and I found that attacking game, it INSTANTLY
transformed my girls from a bunch of tiny individuals running all
over the field into a TEAM! From that one drill EVERYTHING fell
into place: They knew WHY they needed to stay in their positions and
move away from the ball, they knew WHY they needed to pass to space,
they knew WHY they needed to make runs to the goal rather than watch
their team mates dribble and lose it. And all of those light-bulbs
going off in their heads helped everything else make sense as well.
They suddenly knew exactly what to do on throw-ins. They knew why
they had to kick it deep and outside on goal kicks. They knew how to
spread the field, work together as a team, score goals and win games.

Thanks again for a great resource.

Nate, MT USA, Premium Member

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Hi Nate,

Thanks for this great letter and for the idea.

I will do as you suggest and add "Definitely Try This" to that game.

I invented that soocer game to help my U-12 team, but I wasn't sure it would help U-10.

Please share with me any more ideas or feedback you have.

I predict that next season your team does very well -- you've turned the corner. Congratulations. I think you will have some real success stories to tell next season.

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